Does It Matter

Everyone has an opinion about every issue even if they have never spent much time thinking about it. What they have experienced in life will affect their views on many subjects; however, their opinions regarding the majority of the issues will be impacted by their “core” beliefs. To further complicate things, today, some people have both public and private views on some issues that are different. Those two views may be similar with some details they do not wish to discuss, or they agree with the politically correct view but personally have a different opinion.

The wildfires in California and comments by others caused me to think about where we are today in this country. There is an old saying “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” that explains a lot about human nature. The loudest noise is not always the most important, but it usually gets the most attention. The loudest politicians may get their way on issues even when most people do not agree with that solution. During our school years, we called them bullies and not leaders.

Sixty years ago, the two political party differences were mostly about how our taxes are spent. Some of today’s GOP’s views on religious issues would have been considered too liberal back then and the views of today’s Democrat Party would have never been suggested even in small meetings. Some people call that “progress.” Those changes were not limited to just politics in this country, they also impacted churches and families. When I first heard the term “slippery slope” back in the 1950s, it got my attention. I do not remember the issue, but I do remember the concept and the example of taking that first step and sliding down a wet slope picking up speed, and the difficulty of turning around.

During the past several years, we have seen changes in how words are used and the implied new meanings for words that would never have been accepted before. The worst example to me is the use of the word “truth” to replace “opinion.” Opinion is subject to a person’s feelings and the information that they use to develop their view on the subject. Truth is based on facts and does not change based on personal feelings. There is one “truth” and not “my truth.” In the courtroom, persons testifying swear “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” There is a clear difference between “truth” and “feelings”.

With today’s technology, it is easy to find a group of people who you can agree with on issues, and you may even find a church that has the same views about God. Some people say they do not believe there is a god and say they are not religious. Everyone worships someone or something in some way even if they do not see it in their life.

For the past few days, they have been showing on TV videos of the fires in the LA area and talking about how quickly the fires have spread to more than 30,000 acres and burned down thousands of homes and businesses. Everyone seems shocked at that and angry that it could have happened without anyone being able to even slow the spreading of the flames. Thousands of residents in North Carolina still have no place to live and hundreds or more of the residents are still unaccounted for. We simply do not know how many people are buried under all that debris. As I watched the flames consume homes, some worth more than $25 million and all more than $1 million, I was reminded of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 and 19.

Before the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 6 is the story of Noah and the flood that covered the Earth and killed every living person and animal not in the ark. In both of those stories, the Bible describes what provoked God to take the action He took to restore life to His values. Later in Exodus 24, we see where the Ten Commandments are burned into tablets and provided to Moses as laws to live by. The books in the New Testament tell us about the birth and life of Jesus. His life was a living example of what living a perfect life, always following God’s laws, is like. Jesus provided clear messages of the true meaning of God’s Word and then provided the only path for any of us to get to Heaven and spend eternity in God’s presence.

Do you believe that God has the power to destroy those areas in LA? Do you think He would have a reason to do that? It does not matter to me, whether you think God caused or allowed it to happen. What matters is your relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have accepted Him as your savior, then you also said you know He is the only path to Heaven. The hard part is understanding that if we are not a different person after accepting Christ, it did not change anything for us on our judgment day.

When we reach the day when we take our last breath, does it matter what we believe? If the “truth” that God provided to us in the Holy Bible is the only “truth,” it matters to everyone regardless of what they believe to be true. God provided us with “free will” that allows us to choose options throughout our lives with instructions as to what is acceptable to Him. God provided one option for all sinners to be saved from our sins in the form of Jesus Christ. Believing anything else leads to Hell.